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We’re twisting and turning along a spectacular stretch of canyon road when suddenly we clamp down hard on the excellent vented discs that stop BMW‘s new 6 Series: We’ve got baboons in the road. Yes, baboons. A whole crew of them strutting their stuff, big red butts and all.

Things are a little different south of the Tropic of Capricorn in Cape Town, South Africa and environs — it’s awash in sunshine when much of America is shoveling their driveways for the 50th time. It’s a near-perfect locale for the international launch of the 2012 6 Series Convertible, a car that absolutely must be driven with the top down to experience its true nature.

It takes a minute to get oriented to right-hand driving on the left side of the road, but once we’re out of Cape Town and into baboon country, we settle in and saddle up in the 6’s cosseting leather seats, because this vehicle has got plenty of new tricks under its reworked sheetmetal sleeve.

The first trick is making a roughly 4550-pound beast of a car accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds. In the 650i coming stateside in May, it’s accomplished by activating the wonder Twin Power turbo power, BMW’s stout 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 with 400 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque channeled through a killer ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic. American purists, rejoice! A six-speed manual will be available for the tens of 6 Series buyers who opt for it. (The coupe will appear this autumn, and the M6 in mid-2012.)

Oh goodie, a stoplight. After acknowledging the enterprising South Africans hawking their wares in the road (“Nice car, mon!”), it’s time to dial BMW’s Driving Dynamics Control to Sport+, pop it into manual mode, and grab the well-placed paddles. It’s go time. The 245/40 R19 rear meats chirp in second as the double snails furiously spool up and the V-8 roars like an African lion. Nice. Not so nice? The gas mileage. Figures should roughly match the outgoing car’s 15/23 city/highway mpg with the automatic, but we’re guessing 6 Series customers won’t mind.

Despite the yeoman work by BMW engineers tasked with turning another neat trick–molding multi-ton hulks into Ultimate Driving Machines — the 6 gets its roll on just a smidge when we push it hard through the stellar South African mountain roads. Chassis flex? None that we could detect (torsional rigidity is some 50-percent improved). Overall, this is one well screwed-together convertible — it had better be for 91 large to start.

When you’re loping around Cape Town like a trophy wife headed to the mall, the eight-speed is Land o’ Lakes smooth and the 6 Convertible goes from angry lion to pampered pussycat. It’s a stylish top-down tourer to see and be seen in.

This leads us to BMW’s next trick: creating a car that exudes “athletic elegance.” According to Adrian van Hooydonk, senior vice president for BMW Group Design, the 6 Convertible makes its sporting intentions known in the front, highlighted by a reworked, upright kidney grille that brings the 6’s trademark shark nose back with force. The party in the back is highlighted by several horizontal lines and rectangular tailpipes that give it a wide, lowered feel.

So where’s the elegance? Van Hooydonk says it’s expressed in the car’s long flanks, where the beltline has been moved up to bisect the door handles, and runs from the front fender gill arch to the taillights. A number of other wavy, water-themed elements wash over the car’s surfaces.

And then there’s the roof. BMW briefly toyed with a retractable hardtop, but ruled against it for several reasons: space (the soft one leaves roughly 10.6 cubic-feet with the top down), weight, design (Van Hooydonk talked up its “shark fin” side elements), and the fact that current 6 Series ‘vert owners seem to like the softtop. It retains the trick heated rear window that rolls down independently of the top. Top stopwatch times: 16 seconds down, 24 up. We did some miles with the top affixed, and the multi-layer canvas setup kept exterior noise largely at bay.

BMW did some of its best work in the cabin. The driver-oriented cockpit is anchored by the iDrive’s standard 10.2-inch display, which juts out from the dash, forming its own freestanding element. The entire center console is oriented six degrees toward the driver, and it really cocoons you. BMW’s color multi-function head-up display is another trick feature. One bummer: You can’t see it while wearing polarized sunglasses. Soft-touch fabrics abound; the seats are on the firm side but eminently adjustable; and there’s classy stitchwork throughout. While it’s a bit longer than the outgoing car, rear seat legroom is still at a premium. You could get away with hauling four people on a short trip, though.

Safety is always a concern with convertibles. You’re covered six ways to Sunday in the new 6, with a range of airbags, a rollover protection system, lane departure, blind spot detection, and BMW’s full complement of standard and available braking and traction control nannies.

If you put all the 6 Series Convertible’s new tricks in a bag, it’d be hard to close. And after our run in the South African sun, it was blindingly clear that the 6 remains one of the preeminent open-top vehicles on the market today. Just make ours with the steering wheel on the left, please.

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2012 BMW 6-Series News and Reviews

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